Chapter 40
Ryder stared at the ceiling.
He’d done the right thing. Definitely.
Sent her home. Back to England, to safety, to a life that didn’t involve nearly dying beside him.
It was good. It was right.
So why did his chest feel like it was being crushed in a vise?
Fuck.
The door opened. Footsteps. Heavier than Ivy’s.
“I just saw Ivy leave—” Caleb stopped just inside the doorway, two coffees in hand. “What happened?”
Ryder avoided eye contact. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit. You look like someone just kicked your dog. Is she coming back?”
“This afternoon to see Ellie.”
“And after?”
“Back to her hotel. Flight’s tomorrow afternoon.”
Caleb swore under his breath. “And you just let her leave.”
It wasn’t a question.
Ryder finally looked at his brother. Caleb was staring at him from the foot of the bed like he’d lost his mind.
“What was I supposed to do?” Ryder said.
“Are you serious right now?” Caleb’s eyes widened. “Or still high on anesthesia?”
“She nearly died, Caleb. Because she came here. And what can I offer her? A busted shoulder and a three-year-old who still sleeps with a nightlight.”
Caleb set both coffees down. “You done?”
“What?”
“Done feeling sorry for yourself?” Caleb folded his arms, eyebrows lifted.
Ryder’s jaw burned. “I’m being realistic.”
“You’re being a coward.”
Ryder blinked, heat flooding his neck, and pushed himself more upright despite the pain that engulfed his shoulder. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Caleb jabbed an accusing finger at him. “You jumped onto a collapsing rig in a storm, tore your shoulder apart keeping her alive—and now you’re telling me she’s better off without you?”
Ryder looked away. “It’s not that simple.”
“It’s exactly that simple.” Caleb walked around the bed, closer. “Did you tell her how you feel about her?”
His throat closed up. “No.”
“Did you ask her to stay?”
“No.”
Caleb threw his hands in the air. “Why the hell not?”
“Because—” The words were like glue. Ryder forced them out. “Because what if she says no? What if I ask her to give up her whole life, and she looks at me and realizes I’m not worth it?”
Caleb was quiet for a long moment. Then he straightened up and grabbed the wheelchair from the corner of the room.
“What are you doing?” Ryder asked.
“Getting you out of this bed before you make the biggest mistake of your life.” Caleb rolled the chair up beside him. “Get up.”
“I just had surgery.”
“I don’t fucking care. Get up.”
“Caleb—”
“Ryder, I’m telling you right now—if you let her get on that plane tomorrow without telling her how you feel, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life.” Caleb gripped the bed rail. “So get your ass out of this bed, or I will physically put you in this chair myself.”
Ryder stared at his brother. His shoulder was screaming. He was wearing a hospital gown and nothing else. He probably couldn’t walk more than ten feet without passing out.
And Caleb was right.
“Help me up,” he said.
“That’s more fucking like it.” Caleb slid an arm around Ryder’s good side and helped him swing his legs off the bed. The room wobbled. Pain detonated through his shoulder, white-hot and blinding. Ryder gritted his teeth and rode it out.
“Easy,” Caleb said. “Let’s not pass out before we speak to her, eh?”
Ryder grunted in reply. By the time he was seated, he was breathing hard, and sweat was running down his spine. But he was upright. Mobile.
Caleb shoved the IV stand into his hand. “You hold this. Okay, let’s get this thing in gear.” He rolled the chair forward into the hallway.
The corridor stretched in both directions—fluorescent lights, linoleum floors, the smell of antiseptic. A nurse looked up from her station, her mouth popping open, but Caleb waved her off. “He needs some fresh air.”
“There.” Ryder pointed.
Ivy was at the far end of the corridor, almost to the elevators. Her hand was reaching for the button.
“Faster, Caleb.”
“Yes, your highness. Christ, how much do you weigh? Mom’s been feeding you too well.”
The wheelchair’s wheels squeaked on the linoleum. They were twenty feet away.
She pressed the button. The elevator dinged.
No, wait—
“Ivy!” Ryder’s voice came out hoarse. “Wait!”
She didn’t hear him. The elevator doors opened.
Ryder gripped the wheelchair arms and stuck out his leg, forcing Caleb to halt. He pushed himself upright, IV bag swinging above him. His legs shook, and his shoulder felt like it was being torn apart all over again.
But he stood.
“IVY!”
She turned around, hand still on the elevator button, frozen. Her eyes were red. Had she been crying?
“Ryder?” Her voice was small. Uncertain. “What are you—”
“Don’t get on that plane.”
The words came out raw. Desperate. Nothing like what he’d planned to say—if he’d had a plan at all, which he hadn’t, because he was making this up as he went and his shoulder was on fire and he couldn’t think of anything except the fact that she was about to walk into that elevator and out of his life.
“What?” She walked toward him.
“Tomorrow. Don’t get on the plane.” He took a step toward her on faltering legs. Caleb caught his elbow briefly then let go. “Please.”
She stared at him. “Ryder, I—” Her voice trembled. “I thought you wanted me to go.”
“No.” Too sharp. The sound bounced down the corridor. “No, that’s the last thing I want.”
“But you said—”
“I know.” He swallowed hard, fighting through the gray creeping at the edges of his vision.
“I said the wrong thing because I was scared. Terrified I wasn’t enough.
That I couldn’t give you the life you deserve.
You’re this brilliant, capable woman who could go anywhere, do anything, and I’m…
” He gestured with his free hand, half-laughing at himself.
“This. A busted medic with a kid. Not exactly fairy-tale material.” He took a breath. “And you’re you—”
His throat closed up. The words were right there, but they wouldn’t come out.
She closed the gap between them, tears gleaming tracks on her cheeks.
He sucked in a shuddering breath. “I love you, Ivy. I know it’s insane—we’ve known each other for barely two weeks, and half of that was spent trying not to die. But I do. I love you. And Ellie’s halfway in love with you too.”
He shifted a step closer, the IV line swaying. “I can’t stand here and watch you disappear again. So here I am—one-armed, stitched together, mooning half the hospital—asking you, begging you, please don’t go.” The silence stretched long enough to hurt. “Say something. Please.”
Her hand came up to her mouth. A sob escaped, tremulous and disbelieving. “You idiot.” She shook her head. “You absolute idiot.”
“So… that’s a yes?”
She stepped in and threw her arms around his neck. He caught her with his good arm, held on like she was the only thing keeping him upright.
“I love you too,” she whispered against his skin. “I didn’t want to leave. I thought you wanted me to. I thought I’d be in the way. You and Ellie, you’re already a family, and I didn’t want to—”
He pulled back enough to see her face. “You’re not in the way. You’re the missing piece we didn’t know we needed. You, me, and Ellie—that’s all I want.”
She laughed, cupping his jaw with her hand. “You came after me in a hospital gown.”
“Yeah.”
“Your shoulder—”
“Don’t care.”
“You can barely stand—”
“Not gonna stop me.”
She kissed him. Soft at first, then sure, her hands sliding up to anchor him there—proof he was real.
He tasted salt from her tears and, for the first time in days, the world stopped tilting.
His good arm locked around her waist, pulling her close enough that he could feel her heartbeat against his chest, and he poured everything he’d been too scared to say into the kiss.
A pointed throat-clear broke the moment.
“All right, lovebirds.” Caleb motioned for Ryder to sit. “Beautiful scene, very moving. But your gown’s losing the battle, and the nurses are getting an eyeful, so maybe let’s park the romance before HR gets involved?”
Ivy laughed through the tears still wet on her face. Ryder looked down at her—at this woman who’d survived everything and still had the heart to love him back. Something brittle and unyielding finally loosened in his chest. “You’re staying?”
“I’m staying.” She kissed him again, soft and certain. “For you. For Ellie. For us.”
“Good,” Ryder murmured. “Because I really need to sit down.”
Caleb caught him as his knees buckled, guiding him back into the wheelchair. Ivy’s hand stayed on his good shoulder the whole way down.
“You’re crazy.” She bent and nuzzled his jaw, and he breathed her perfume in.
“Probably.”
“You could have torn your stitches.”
“Totally worth it.” He threaded his fingers through the softness of her hair.
“That was the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen,” Caleb sighed. “Also the most disturbing, because—your ass. I’m never un-seeing that. But mostly romantic.”
Ryder lifted his good hand and flipped him off.
Ivy’s laugh spilled out, bright and uncontrollable.
And for the first time in days, Ryder laughed too.